


Communication

by Lovedmoviesb



Series: So, You’ve Got a Crush On Spider-Man... [2]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post end game, Pre Far From Home, Pre Relationship, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:19:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19832941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovedmoviesb/pseuds/Lovedmoviesb
Summary: MJ knows her communication skills aren’t suited for everyone and she doesn’t really care. But there’s one person she wishes she was better at talking to.





	Communication

Communicating wasn’t really MJ’s forte. 

Sure, if she was passionate about the subject, (and luckily, she was passionate about a very long list of subjects) she could go on and on. She was self-aware enough to realize that she wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and confident enough to know that she didn’t care. 

Well, she didn’t care about most people. There was one person in particular that MJ found she cared for quite a great deal. 

“MJ,” she knew his voice anywhere. It always sent the most peculiar sort of thrill through her, one that started at the base of her spine and crept up. It was like sinking into a hot bath, sipping good coffee, the thrill when the hook of her favorite song played inside of her headphones. Curiously, she’d felt that way for a second before her world (and billions of others) had all gone to ash and darkness five years ago. It was a terrifying sensation, yet somehow elating, unknown and enticing, more dizzying than vertigo. 

“Hi Pete,” she was mostly successful in keeping her voice even. Her heart did that stupid little stutter that had begun to preclude most of her interactions with the boy running to catch up with her. 

He was breathing hard, as though his sprint winded him. MJ knew better. She’d watched Peter do sit-ups by the dozens without breaking a sweat in gym class for the better part of a year. He hadn’t seen her watching-- at least she didn’t think so. But she had been. 

“What do you think about the summer trip?” Peter asked her. 

He was looking at her in that way, the look that made it seem as though there was nothing he’d rather be doing, and no one he’d rather be talking to. It had embarrassed her at first, and sometimes, it still made her uncomfortable. But she liked it. 

“I think I’m going to go,” she said without preamble. She’d given it thought all day. “It’s expensive, I know but…” she broke off, wetting her lips. 

“Yeah,” Peter spoke up eagerly. “I think I might go too. I’ve only been-- I mean, I’ve never left the country before.” He was speaking too fast, getting jittery. He bounced on the balls of his feet, his hands tugging at the straps of his backpack. There was no one that MJ knew on earth who had energy like Peter. She was pretty sure she knew why. 

“It seems kind of silly to not go,” she said. “You know, after all the...Blip and everything.” It was something she knew the adults couldn’t stop talking about, but MJ just wanted to forget. She wanted to forget that her parents were half a decade older now, that they’d thought her dead for five years. She wanted to forget that she’d left the world in a blink and come back to it all being different. She wanted the old advertisements that lined her way home, she wanted the old jokes, the levity that had been there before it all went to hell. She wanted to be laughing somewhere with Pete and Ned, really laughing. She wanted her worst problem to be her wayward affection for a geeky boy who barely noticed her hiding behind her wild hair. 

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Peter said. He cleared his throat. “But I think...I’d want to go before you know?” MJ tilted her head at him in confusion. “I mean, even if the Blip didn’t happen, if we’d gotten the chance. I’d still want to go.” He looked at her nervously. “If I can get a break from my internship, I’ll go.”

MJ took a moment to look back. She found it easier to observe him these days, a delightful side effect of their blossoming friendship. There was something so earnest about Peter Parker, so innocently pure that she found herself captivated by him. It was an awful shame that he hid himself so well, both from their classmates and the world at large. Spider-Man was impressive, but in her opinion, what the world needed was more Peters. 

“I get that,” she smiled at him. The gesture felt foreign. “And you should definitely take a break from your internship. You deserve it.” 

Peter’s face brightened at once. “Which city do you want to see most?” he asked, all raw enthusiasm. 

“Paris,” she answered immediately. She started walking again, aimlessly. Peter trailed along beside her. There was a time when walking in Queens like this would have been a lonely endeavour. She found she much preferred her present company. 

Peter nodded. “La ville de l'amour,” he said in a practiced French accent. 

MJ felt her face begin to flush, much to her horror. She chanced a glance at Pete and noticed that he was running red as well. 

“Are you looking for romance overseas, Tiger?” she questioned, leaning on sarcasm. 

She did not count on his wide-eyed stare, or his face going blotchy. He began to stammer. MJ’s heart and stomach clenched into tight knots. 

“Maybe,” he shrugged, voice tight. His dark eyes darted down and he worried his mouth into a straight line. She’d doodled him like this in her notebook countless times, experimenting with his caricature. It shocked her that a person like Peter, with so much to offer the world, could be so cluelessly nervous. 

Then again, her palms were sweating and her skin had gone clammy. She sent up a silent prayer that her natural deodorant wouldn’t give out. 

“Shouldn’t be hard,” she ventured, the words feeling heavy as they left her lips. “For a guy like you, I mean.” The light changed and they were forced to stop at a crosswalk. 

She looked at the ground, cursing both her recklessness and her cowardice simultaneously. If she were as bold as she pretended to be, she would tell him right now, right in the middle of the crowded street. She’d been trying to tell him in a million ways since they Blipped back, with coffee cups, and inside jokes, with that silly little nickname she’d invented when May had shown her that adorable picture of Peter in kindergarten. MJ thought she was made of tougher stuff than this. 

But how on Earth did you tell Spider-Man that you were half in love with him? He’d been to space. And she was just…

Well, she was just MJ. 

“You think so?” Peter’s voice had gone all high and squeaky, the way it used to when he whispered to Ned about Liz. That felt like a lifetime ago. 

“Yeah,” MJ tried for nonchalance and missed the mark. “I’m sure there’s already some girl out there who likes you.” She could hear her heart thumping in her ears. “Or boy.” She added. 

He smiled again, bright and sunny, like the world rolled right off of his shoulders. Peter, who had lost his uncle, who had lost his mentor, who spent the nights patrolling the streets to keep them all safe, could grin like this world was all sunshine and daisies. It never failed to impress her. 

And with that smile of his aimed at her, she was now pretty sure she was going to have to amend her estimation from half-in-love to significantly higher. Three-quarters-in-love at least. 

“Thanks MJ,” Peter said.

“No problem,” the light changed again and MJ nearly ran into the street. Peter followed. 

“Maybe we can practice our French together,” he offered, voice tinged with a sweet hopefulness.

MJ turned to him once they reached the other side. “I’d like that,” she admitted. 

Peter grinned once more. MJ hid her blush. 

“You know what I’d like more though?” she asked, “A sandwich from Delmar.”

“You didn’t hear?” Peter practically bounced on his feet. “He opened up again.” MJ didn’t have a chance to respond. Peter was already grabbing her hand, turning them in the completely opposite direction. “I’m getting you one,” he decided. “For the coffee the other day.” He looked at her, clearly expecting some opposition. 

“Well, lead the way, Tiger,” MJ fired back at once. “I’m not going to turn down free food.”

“We can practice French on the way,” Peter offered. 

“Oui,” she responded, grinning. Her face felt hot, as did the rest of her body, that familiar, Peter-driven tingle creeping down her spine. 

She kind of liked it. Maybe one day she would tell him. Paris seemed like a nice enough place to do it. It wasn’t called the City of Love for nothing, right?

MJ watched Peter as he ate, talking a mile-a-minute about Venice, Paris, the food, the culture, the landmarks he thought they might visit. She listened, content, chewing at her sandwich. 

“I can’t wait,” he finished, biting into his second foot-long. 

MJ grinned at him. “Neither can I,” she said.


End file.
